TOKYO
\nChina will suspend Japanese seafood imports, media in Tokyo reported Wednesday as a row sparked by comments about Taiwan deepens, although neither government confirmed the move.
\nThe uneasy neighbors\u2019 most serious spat since 2012 was triggered by new Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi suggesting on November 7 that Tokyo could intervene militarily in any attack on Taiwan.
\nChina, which claims Taiwan as part of its territory, has been furious, summoning Tokyo\u2019s ambassador and advising its citizens against travel to Japan.
\nThe release of at least two Japanese movies will also be postponed in China, according to state media.
\nReporting the suspension of seafood imports, Japanese media, including public broadcaster NHK, cited unnamed government sources.
\nChina explained the move as necessary to monitor treated wastewater being released from the stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant, NHK said.
\nChina had only recently resumed purchasing some marine products from Japan following an earlier ban imposed after the Fukushima operation began in 2023.
\nThe UN atomic agency said the release of the equivalent of 540 Olympic pools\u2019 worth of cooling water collected since a tsunami crippled the facility in 2011 was safe.
\nBut Beijing has accused Japan of treating the Pacific as a \u201csewer.\u201d
\nBeijing\u2019s foreign ministry did not confirm the latest reported suspension when asked on Wednesday.
\nMinistry spokeswoman Mao Ning told a regular news conference: \u201cUnder the current circumstances, even if Japanese seafood were exported to China, there would not be a market.\u201d
\nJapanese government spokesman Minaru Kihara also said there had been \u201cno notifications from the Chinese side on this.\u201d
\n\u201cIt is important to follow through on the understanding shared between Japan and China in September last year (about seafood),\u201d Kihara told reporters.
\nIn 2023, seafood shipments to mainland China accounted for 15.6 percent of a total of 390 billion yen ($2.5 billion), down from 22.5 percent in 2022.
\nHong Kong accounted for 26.1 percent, and the United States accounted for 15.7 percent in 2023.
\n– \u2018Strong protest\u2019 –
\nKey trading partners, China and Japan have seen ties frayed by territorial rivalries and military spending in recent years.
\nChina is the biggest source of tourists to Japan, with almost 7.5 million visitors in the first nine months of 2025.
\nOne analyst estimated that Chinese travelers have canceled around half a million air tickets in recent days.
\n\u201cRecently, 90 percent of our customers (going to Japan) have asked for refunds,\u201d Wu Weiguo, 48, a manager at a Shanghai travel agency, told AFP.
\n\u201cI think relations will be able to improve, as long as Japan can tone down their rhetoric… After all, there are a lot of Chinese people currently in Japan, including my cousin, who is married to someone there,\u201d said his colleague Zhou Pei, 47.
\nJapan on Monday urged its citizens in China to be careful of their surroundings and to avoid big crowds.
\nBeijing on Tuesday vowed to \u201cprotect the safety\u201d of foreigners in China, but said it had again lodged a \u201cstrong protest\u201d with Tokyo over Takaichi\u2019s comments.
\nSeeking to defuse the row, the top official in Japan\u2019s foreign ministry for Asia-Pacific affairs, Masaaki Kanai, held talks Tuesday in Beijing with his Chinese counterpart Liu Jinsong.
\n\u201cDuring the consultations, China once again lodged a strong protest with Japan\u201d over \u201cTakaichi\u2019s erroneous remarks,\u201d said Beijing\u2019s foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning.
\n\u201cTakaichi\u2019s fallacies seriously violate international law and the basic norms governing international relations,\u201d Mao said, adding the premier\u2019s comments \u201cfundamentally damage the political foundation of China-Japan relations.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
TOKYO China will suspend Japanese seafood imports, media in Tokyo reported Wednesday as a row sparked by comments about Taiwan deepens, although neither government confirmed the move. The uneasy neighbors\u2019 most serious spat since 2012 was triggered by new Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi suggesting on November 7 that Tokyo could intervene militarily in any attack […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":515598,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-515588","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n